. >> moyers: but the promises had come with a price: two costly wars, a soaring deficit and a housing market boom and bust. >> the obama administration says it will spend billions to keep struggling homeowners in their homes. >> moyers: american families had been hit by the greatest economic downturn since the great depression. >> we're raised to believe that each generation can and will do better than the last. but is that really true? >> moyers: we wanted to know what had happened to the two american families we knew. we found jackie stanley outside her church. how are you? >> the graduate! >> moyers: along with a grown-up keith, now 35. >> i never would have made it to college, never would have made it to college, without mom. >> moyers: but jackie quickly confided that when we called her to see about filming again, she almost said no. i was telling kathy i thought i was a failure. i really thought i was a failure because i didn't do it. we went backwards. >> moyers: she said that after suffering some health problems, she had quit doing real estate altogether, that her dream of hav